Relevant subject matter is disclosed in a U.S. patent (U.S. Pat. No. 7,388,759; ) filed on Dec. 29, 2005 and entitled “MOUNTING ASSEMBLY FOR EXPANSION CARDS”, which is assigned to the same assignee as this patent application.
1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to mounting assemblies and, particularly, to a mounting assembly which readily and firmly secures a plurality of expansion cards in a computer chassis.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, many computer systems and other electronic devices employ circuit cards, such as expansion cards, adapters, and PC boards. These cards or boards are typically mounted perpendicularly to a computer motherboard. In particular, the cards are usually inserted into edge card connectors mounted on the computer motherboard. However, merely inserting a card into an edge card connector is typically insufficient to securely maintain the card within the computer chassis. Cards connected in this fashion can easily disconnect from the edge connector, which may prevent, or significantly inhibit, acceptable operation of the computer. Accordingly, additional structure is used to secure a card within a computer chassis. A conventional manner of securing a card within a computer chassis is to provide a card bracket fastened to the computer chassis with a removable screw. Specifically, each mounting bracket is normally disposed across a card slot formed in the computer chassis and may include an aperture through which the fastener may pass. However, securing a card-mounting bracket to a computer chassis in this manner may present problems. One significant disadvantage of a screw-secured bracket is that the fastener is often inadvertently dropped into the computer chassis during installation and removal of the bracket.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.